By Nicolas Bard

Above the picturesque country of Folegandros, perched on a tall, barren and full of rock terraces, the historic Virgin Mary of Folegandros is built. It is the largest church on the island, dedicated to the Assumption. In the place where we see the church today, there was an earlier ancient temple, many of the building materials used to build it. Wherever you stand in the country, the imposing and vague Virgin Mary will magnetize your look. There you will arrive following a 500 -meter uphill path, with several turns, starting from Punta Square, but the view that opens up will make you fully compensated.
From this point you will enjoy a panoramic view of the entire island and one of the most beautiful Aegean sunsets. When the sun slowly begins to set, everyone is uphill to the Virgin Mary and trying to secure a privileged position to see the sun dive into the Aegean horizon. The sea breeze comes to cool the atmosphere from lunchtime, and despite the fact that many people are gathering, the quiet is spooky. It’s like you are literally on the edge of the world, where you first see the greatness of life, and you perceive the sense of time to the fullest. Every minute the sun is getting closer to the sea, until at some point it dives into it and the day erases.

But beyond the incredible view, the Church of Our Lady also carries a long story, and is inextricably linked to the island and its inhabitants. Arriving at the courtyard and inside the temple you will see ancient inscriptions, sculptures and statues. The temple was an earlier Catholic Monastery of the Monastery. There is still a marble inscription of 1687, referring to the renovation of the temple. The church took its present form during the reconstruction that began in 1816 and ended in 1821. The Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary kept inside the temple is associated with pirate stories and legends of Folegandros. According to the old Folegandrian custom, Easter is a picture of the image in all the houses of the island!

The Virgin Mary of Folegandros is undoubtedly a trademark and a religious – historical landmark of the island, and its image is dominated everywhere: from the tourist postcards, to the EOT campaigns for Greek tourism in the world’s largest markets. The whitewashed, snake cobblestone cobblestone climbing on the rock and leads to the magnificent white temple, with the elaborate bell tower, is an image that will impress deep inside you, and you will always carry it reminiscent, leaving the island. From there, all these years Panagia overlooks the island and the endless blue of the Aegean and invites the world to her arms.